Richard Petty Motorsports and Smithfield Foods 'ham it up' for media in New York

Flashy stock car Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) gloats after doing well in a race, until The King (Richard Petty) puts him in his place.

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How do you know you've made it as a motorsports reporter? When a person writing on behalf of "The King" Richard Petty reaches out to you via email to invite you to lunch with Petty, his sponsors, and drivers, as well as representatives of NASCAR; that's how!

On Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 11:00 a.m. in the Hudson Theater in New York City, Smithfield Foods, Inc. and Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM), along with NASCAR officials, extended the Smithfield Foods' NASCAR program with the race team by three additional years. The company and its family of brands, including Eckrich, Farmland, Gwaltney, Nathan's and Smithfield, will return as primary sponsors of the legendary No. 43 Ford Fusion driven by Aric Almirola in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for 29 races in 2014 and beyond.

"I believe in the power of NASCAR and Richard Petty Motorsports. My challenge to RPM was to help Smithfield connect our brands with the sport's 80 plus million fans," commented Larry Pope, President and CEO of Smithfield Foods. "Our results completely validate our participation."

With the current economic climate being what it is, it is always a good sign when a major company, such as Smithfield Foods, decides to not only continue as a sponsor, but to increase the amount of financial exposure they have in the sport from 15 events in 2012 and 25 in 2013 to 29 events in 2014-2016.

As identified by Mr. Pope, this long term commitment from Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, will help support Richard Petty Motorsports' aggressive investment in competition, including the immediate development of a research and development group led by veteran NASCAR team engineer Scott McDougall.

"We are proud to see the goals of our partnership with Smithfield Foods exceed everyone's expectations," explained Richard Petty, co-owner of Richard Petty Motorsports. "This expanded partnership is evidence the platform has worked and continues to work. We have worked very hard the past two seasons to position our team as business and marketing leaders in the NASCAR landscape. Smithfield's continued commitment with us for years to come will allow us to focus on winning on the track while still working with Smithfield Foods to expand their business."

In addition to the expansion of Smithfield Foods, RPM has also welcomed additional sponsors to the sport over the past two seasons including Strike 10 Entertainment, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, WinField and Twisted Tea.

"Some of the world's most profitable and successful corporations choose to partner with NASCAR because its proven to drive business," said Jim O'Connell, NASCAR chief sales officer. "The extension between Richard Petty Motorsports and Smithfield Foods reinforces that blue-chip brands are confident our sport is positioned for future growth."

Almirola, who is in his second full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with RPM, turned heads posting four consecutive top-10 finishes at the start of the 2013 season. He scored a total of one top-five and six top-10 finishes and went on to finish 18th in the point standings, an improvement of two spots from his first full season in the series. As the ambassador for Smithfield Foods, he has witnessed the success of the sponsorship first-hand.

"Having Smithfield expand their program each year is proof the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series platform and this partnership with RPM is exceeding the business goals of Smithfield and their brands," Almirola said. "I'm proud to be a small part of Smithfield Foods and what they do to give back to local communities as part of our race program. More importantly, I'm proud to be an ambassador for their brands and am thankful for their commitment to allow us to compete for wins on the track."

The No. 43 Smithfield Foods Ford kicks off the 2014 season at the 56th annual Daytona 500 Sunday, February 23 live on FOX. The West Palm Beach Motorsports Examiner looks forward to bringing you, the fans, even more exclusive looks inside the world of NASCAR, as well as other forms of motorsports worldwide.

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Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway nearly 30 years ago. He has had the privelage of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory. He looks forward to sharing some of his enthusiasm for motorsports with the readers of examiner.com. If you have any ideas for events, teams, or competitions he should cover, don't hesitate to email him at adamsinclair@att.net.